Thanksgiving is approaching this weekend, and it’s likely one that no one is going to forget.
Infections have been surging across the province and restrictions are ramping up in the hardest hit areas, like Montreal, Quebec City and as of Monday, three towns in the Gaspé region.
In an about-face from their position in the summer, the provincial government has gotten behind the . . .
federal COVID alert app, which was rolled out in July, scrambling to use whatever means necessary to stem the tide of new cases. It appears that instead of whining that the software should have been made in Quebec, the CAQ could have gone along with the feds and saved everyone in this province a whole lot of trouble. It should be noted that a committee representing all parties in the National Assembly rejected using the federal app, citing privacy concerns. What a relief to know the CAQ isn’t alone in its pigheadedness.
The app uses coded Bluetooth signals to determine if the user has been in the vicinity of a person that’s tested positive in the last 14 days. It doesn’t track the user’s location nor does it store any of their personal information. During the consultations on the matter, the committee heard that 77 per cent of the population was in favour of using an app and 75 per cent said they would install one. This rhetoric about “privacy concerns” is just smoke and mirrors, which we all saw fall apart this week.
There comes a point when nationalist bluster gives way to pragmatism. Provincial partisans need to rid themselves of this collective delusion that we are a nation that exists independent of the rest of Canada. A “made in Quebec” app would be not only redundant, but counter-productive, due to the additional time it would take to create and the simple fact that lots of people regularly travel across provincial borders.
Last week, the Liberal spokesperson on the file, Marwah Rizqy, gave the incomprehensible justification that since testing centres in the province are now struggling to keep up with demand, an app “won’t help us”. Perhaps if she and her colleagues hadn’t dillydallied for weeks the app could have been widely advertised, downloaded and in use before school was back in session. No one is arguing that it would be a silver bullet, but a province that has objectively bungled the response to this crisis should be using all tools that are available.
It’s incredibly frustrating to see this kind of political gamesmanship over such a non-controversial issue, especially when there are people still dying.
If there’s ever been a time in recent memory when the meaning of Thanksgiving is important to grasp, it’s now. Having an appreciation for the things that are going right in your life — be they tangible, like great food, or intangible, like the feeling you get when you cook some great food for people you love — is key to sustaining a positive outlook when everything seems to be going wrong.
No matter how you’re celebrating the holiday this year, or even if you can’t celebrate at all, it’s a good time to reflect on all you have to be thankful for.
Caleb Nickerson
